Keanu Reeves has starred in a sci-fi masterpiece you may not even know about. It’s written by a writer who was responsible for Blade Runner and Total Recall.
When you hear the combination “science fiction” + “Keanu Reeves”, you probably first think of Matrix. Then nothing at all for a very long time, and at some point maybe The Day the Earth Stood Still or Bill & Ted. Few people will think of A Scanner Darkly. Yet the dark sci-fi vision is one of the star’s best films.
What is the little-noticed A Scanner Darkly about?
Richard Linklater (Boyhood) adapted A Scanner Darkly in 2007 from an original by sci-fi genius Philip K. Dick, who provided the stories for Total Recall and Blade Runner – both classics of the genre. The adaptation of A Scanner Darkly receives considerably less attention. Unjustly so.
In the future, America has lost the war on drugs. Undercover investigator Fred (Keanu Reeves), like so many others, has become addicted to the drug Substance D, which causes split personalities in users. This is how the drug dealer Bob emerges alongside Fred. And one day Fred is given the task of monitoring himself. A brain-twisting game of confusion begins.
What makes A Scanner Darkly so good and disturbing?
Reason 1: The visuals
The rotoscoping process was used on A Scanner Darkly, which makes the characters and their world appear drawn. The lines of the star faces are preserved, however; Keanu Reeves is clearly recognisable, as are Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson. The look wavers between deliberate alienation and clear realism. The style functions as a warning signal to the audience not to trust what they see. Neither can the characters.
Reason 2: Playing with identities
Because in A Scanner Darkly, the characters use so-called Everyman suits that allow them to assume other identities. Keanu Reeves uses one in his job as an undercover investigator. And why shouldn’t the other characters do the same?
Reason 3: The unreliable narration
You can’t trust anything or anyone in A Scanner Darkly. With its visuals, its play with shifting identities, and its intentionally sketchy narrative, A Scanner Darkly creates a frenzy of persecution in its audience. Keanu Reeves’ character is the only anchor in the film’s reality at the beginning. However, he loses his grip more and more as the story progresses and pulls you into his hole with him. An impressive as well as disturbing experience.
